(Q) Why did you choose PGS as a team name? 
(A) Our team was founded in 2010. There are actually many meanings behind our name but as of now, it stands for Pöstlingberg Ghetto Style. Pöstlingberg is a hill with beautiful church on it which outlines our sky on our practice field and the term ghetto pokes sarcasm at our gorgeous surroundings.

(Q) Why did you join the ESSL?
(A) To represent Austria and play with awesome players from all around the world.

(Q) What do you expect from this season?
(A) To have a great time and win some ball games!

(Q) How would you describe your team’s playing philosophy?
(A) We’re a very relaxed and chill team as a whole, but we also enjoy getting riled up at times! We like giving new players a chance to gain experience and welcome everyone who has a love for the game.

(Q) How do you see the future for slowpitch in Europe and for the ESSL?
(A) I see it becoming more and more popular! I look forward to baseball and softball becoming an official pastime here and ESSL is helping make this happen. Keep on spreading the baseball love!!!

(Q) Anything else you want to say?
(A) We’re proud to be a part of this community and we’ve made memories that last a life-time! Thanks for organizing these awesome events!

Championship Game ESSL Switzerland
Game 1: Guzzlers Europe vs. Bad News Bombers 24:14 (box score)
Game 2: Bad News Bombers vs. Guzzlers Europe 10:7 (box score)

SOME FIGURES
1 field
8 teams
28 games
1443 plate appearances
524 runs
542 hits
35 homeruns
195 base on balls
39 strike outs

Final Rankings ESSL Switerzland
1. Bad News Bombers
2. Guzzlers Europe
3. Toros Softball
4. Dream Team
5. Bulldogs
6. Los Coyotes
7. PGS
8. Los Titanes

PLAYER AWARDS
Best Hitter: James Hooser, PGS, AVG 1.000
Best Pitcher: Richard Vieira, Toros, OBA .364

BEST HITTER OF EACH TEAM
Bad News Bombers: Andrew Berroth (3.), Bombers, AVG .750
Bulldogs: Jurica Glavina (19.), AVG .571
Dream Team: Matic Jerman (25.) & Ziga Oracem, AVG .533
Guzzlers: Preston Griffin (5.), AVG .667
Los Coyotes: Elias Inoa-Gil, Orlando Reyes and Juan Sosa (15.), AVG .583
Los Titanes: Jose Martinez (2.), AVG .875
PGS: James Hooser (1.), AVG 1.000
Toros: Pedro Diaz (5.), AVG .667

Links:

• Game results
• ESSL stats

In the new issue of Softball Magazine you can read her player story:

Samantha Einwagner plays first base for team PGS in the ESSL in Austria, but where she grew up and learned the game of softball is another whole…well, country.
A school and club softball player from the time she was seven through 18 years old in Arizona, the now 25-year-old is an English teacher who resides in Linz, Austria. She gets her softball fix these days playing slowpitch in the rising league in Europe, the European Slowpitch Softball League.

Samantha recollects her early years in the sport. “My career in softball started at the age of seven when I played in a league called Arizona Girls Softball (AGS) for girls aged 6-18 years old,” says Samantha. “I went on to play Senior League for the Arrowhead All-Stars and ASA club ball for the Vipers, Lil’ Saints and Desert Kaos. I also played competitively for Mountain Ridge High School. I ate, slept, and breathed only softball for my entire adolescent life; no other sport interested me more! “I began playing competitive ASA fastpitch at the age of 11. Club ball was expensive due to all of the traveling, but I had the opportunity to play against the best in the country. While playing high school ball at Mountain Ridge High, we made the state finals each year I was there. In these years, I played more games than I can count, all filled with amazing memories and friendships…”

Read the whole story:
Softball Magazine player profile Samantha (permission granted by Softball Magazine)

You can buy the magazine online: Softball Magazine Store

ESSL Stats Women 2015

Link: Stats Women

SOME FIGURES
1 field
8 teams
25 games
1417 plate appearances
464 runs
593 hits
43 homeruns
92 base on balls
57 strike outs

Final Rankings ESSL Germany
1. Bad News Bombers
2. Guzzlers Europe
3. Los Coyotes
4. Bulldogs
5. Dream Team
6. Toros Softball
7. PGS
8. Los Titanes

PLAYER AWARDS
Best Hitter: William Mueller, Bombers, AVG .833
Best Pitcher: Jürgen Haunschmidt, PGS, OBA .368

BEST HITTER OF EACH TEAM
Bad News Bombers: William Mueller (1.), Bombers, AVG .833
Bulldogs: Matija Moze (16.), AVG .600
Dream Team: Matic Jerman (15.), AVG .611
Guzzlers: Kodie Bellew (4.), AVG .667
Los Coyotes: Espinal Hernandez (8.), AVG .632
Los Titanes: Ofraini Ortega Beltre (3.), AVG .727
PGS: Jonathan Santiago (4.), AVG .667
Toros: Jose Posada (10.), AVG .625 & Eisbel Rojas (10.), AVG .625

Links:

• Game results
• ESSL stats

Last year the Guzzlers (USA/GER) won the ESSL league championships followed by the Los Coyotes (DOM/AUT) and Linz Grizzlies (AUT). This year new teams take the stage and old teams improved. For this season it appears as though the cards are being reshuffled.

Read about the first power ranking of the season:

1. Bad News Bombers
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

Coach Drew Chesser formed a team with a lot of new players. Additionally, he strengthened the team with the power of Jason Parker (ESSL hitting champion 2014). We will see if this team really has some bad news for the other teams in the league. But remember last year the Grizzlies already showed that hitting long balls is not always the receipe to win every game.

2. Guzzlers Europe
Last ranking: 1 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

Will the Guzzlers be able to repeat their title? Will they also be able to answer the “bad news” from the other US-team? At the moment this is something that is difficult to answer but we think that the missing of the Rhino (Jason Parker) might have weakened the Guzzlers a little bit. That’s why they are placed as second for the first ranking. But there is a simple way to proof that the crystal ball is wrong by winning the ESSL Germany tournament in Reutlingen.

3. Los Coyotes
Last ranking: 2 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

The Dominican team always looks for challenges when the play the game and they have one goal – to be #1. Their strength is that they grow with the challenge. The stronger the opponent, the more they are concentrated. However, this is also the weak point. Because they need emotions for winning they sometimes struggle when everything is too relaxed.

4. Dream Team
Last ranking: 5 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

It looks like Dream Team learned from last year and added two important players to their roster. One is Tomo Zezlina a great pitcher and a smart hitter. With his experience he can lead the team to a succesfull way up to the top. The second player is an outfielder with power as long as he keeps concentrated – Jerman Matic. After the first tournament we will see if Dream Team lives up the expectations.

5. Bulldogs
Last ranking: 4 (season 2014)
Tendency: –

It seems like the Bulldogs have some changes in front of them. Last year it was a team that were very close to beat the Guzzlers and they already won against the Los Coyotes. This team is very smart and can fight until the end. However, this year there are several new players involved and it’s a big question if the new players wil be able to achieve a breackthrough. Their goal is to be at least the #1 of the Slovenian teams. At the moment it looks like a close race.

6. PGS
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

On the paper it’s a new team but the core players are from the Grizzlies, last year #3 in the ESSL. However, the team has to deal with several injuries and it seems like that their main goal will be the Super Cup in September. Their playing style is hitting line drives and using their speed to create pressure on the bases.

7. Los Titanes
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

It’s another new team that enters the scene. Last 2 years the Titans played in the Austrian league and are well known for their unpredictability. There are games when it seems that they give up the control but suddenly the hit the ball everywhere and score a lot of runs. Their weakness is still their lack of concentration and experience. It’s a pretty young team.

8. Toros
Last ranking: –
Tendency: –

Toros are a big unkown team this season. They are rumours that they have the potential to be one of the top four teams but on the other side it’s a question mark if they will be capable to get their strongest players together. For Germany the team will not show the true face because they miss some players with real power. With their full squad we expect a strong defensive team.

RANKING #1

1. Bad News Bombers
2. Guzzlers Europe
3. Los Coyotes
4. Dream Team
5. Bulldogs
6. PGS
7. Los Titanes
8. Toros

When was your team founded?
We played our first tournament in 2010. In 2012 we official founded the club.

In which city is your team located?
Linz, Austria. The city is located between Vienna and Salzburg.

Give us a short history of your team
PGS is the short version of “Pöstlingberg Ghetto Style”, even though we are pleasant-natured The Pöstlingberg is a 539 metres high hill in the northern area in the city of Linz. It is a popular tourist destination with a great viewing platform and the Pöstlingberg church on top of the hill. The PGS logo is a silhouette of the Pöstlingberg area.
It all started with a bunch of guys from Linz Pöstlingberg playing “BIGS” (Baseball Game on XBOX360) excessively, but nevertheless after some years it became boring. So we decided to play real life. Because we were used to the quick game flow (no long delays, more hitting, more action, etc.) of baseball on the computer, it was obvious for us to decide to play Slowpitch instead of baseball.
At the beginning there were only two people who had a clue about the game – the 2 founders of PGS: Gregor Mlczoch & Lukas Maas, but none of us had ever touched a softball before.
Fortunately we found out that there were also other teams in and around Linz. So we founded an official team and participated in the ASSL (Austrian Slowpitch League) as well as in different European Slowpitch tournaments.
In the meantime additional experienced baseball, fastpitch and Slowpitch players from other teams joined the PGS team. For the ESSL we formed a team with players from the Grizzlies, Bandits and Highlanders and some US-players joined the team.

What do you expect from this season and what are your goals?
Our main goal is to keep up with the other teams during the season, experience thrilling games, have fun, grow as a team and notice continuous progress. Hopefully we can manage to tease the one or the other big team in the league 

What do you think of the ESSL?
ESSL is a good instrument to promote the sport of “Slowpitch”. It also gives us the opportunity to travel around Europe and to compete with some of the best teams on our continent.

How do you see the future of the ESSL?
I think it is just the beginning of a new sports era because people just haven’t heard about Slowpitch and it’s advantages. And this is starting to change right now. Hopefully, the ESSL is able to expand. So that every country of Europe can provide a competitive team.